This invention relates to animal cages and more particularly to bird cages having hinged doors.
Cages for birds are well known and have been in use for any years. Most modem cages have four vertical walls made of metal bars, a floor and a ceiling. In such cages, particularly those intended for use by large birds such as larger parrots, at least one vertical wall has a framed opening for a hinged door. Typically the door is made of metal bars with hinges along one side. The door is hinged so that it opens by swinging about a vertical axis of rotation. In most cases the axis of rotation extends vertically along the right side of the door as viewed from the outside of the cage.
The door is provided for ingress and egress of a bird and to provide access for cleaning the cage. The door typically has horizontal top and bottom bars and has a latch mechanism located on the nonhinged side of the door between the levels of the top and bottom bars. The latch is to secure the door in a locked position with the door covering an opening into the interior of the cage to keep the bird inside. When a person opens the door, the bird may be lifted out of the cage or will walk out on its own. A bird that walks out of such a cage naturally climbs up to be in an elevated position and most frequently ends up standing on the top horizontal bar of the door, which serves as a convenient perch.
It is a long-recognized problem that birds are intelligent and can learn how to operate latch mechanisms. Thus it is common for a bird to learn how to defeat the latch mechanism of a typical cage and release itself This problem has been addressed in the past by adopting increasingly complex latch mechanisms to outsmart the birds. But this adds to the cost and complexity of a cage and does not always work.
It is another problem with common cages that, when a bird stands on the top bar of the door, the door can swing accidentally to the closed position. This can happen when, for example, a person inadvertently bumps into the door. If a door is rotated all the way to the closed position when a bird is perched on top, the bird's feet are crushed between the top bar of the door and the door frame. This can cause permanent injury to the bird.
The present invention provides a simple and inexpensive way to make it virtually impossible for a bird to open the latched door of its cage. It also can be used to protect birds from foot crushing incidents. In one aspect, existing cages can be retrofitted inexpensively to have the benefits of the present invention.
This is accomplished by providing a cage with a movable wing above the door opening. The wing is pivotally mounted such that the wing can be rotated between a first position wherein the wing extends downwardly from its pivot axis to a to a level below the top of the door and a second position wherein the wing does not extend downwardly from the pivot axis to a to a level below the top of the door. The wing works in combination with a traditional latch that is located below the wing, along the free side of the door. Because the wing and latch are spaced apart, a bird can not reach both at the same time and cannot unlock the cage.
Quite separate and apart from its function as a latch, the wing is a safety device that can be used to prevent leg crushing. When the cage door is open, the wing hangs down and blocks a portion of the door opening. If the cage door is inadvertently bumped, the door cannot swing fully to the closed position because the wing blocks its travel. This prevents a bird's feet from being caught between the door and the door frame.